England sink into Sri Lankan quicksand

England’s Bazball was a craze among the youngsters and they thought that Brendon McCullum – the coach for the Test format - was the first coach ever to revolutionize such ultra-aggressive batting in cricket while in the past it was ever used – neither Sir Don Bradman nor Victor Trumper nor Gilbert Jessop nor Sir Vivian Richards knows what being ultra-aggressive with the bat is! Even in the ODIs and T20 format – under Matthew Mott – England kept their ultra-aggression intact and they were expected to crack fireworks in India.

And – there was the English discovery “The Hundred” that was expected to galvanize the English batting – sadly, it did not.

Came the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India - New Zealand let England and others know what aggression is and South Africa literally traumatized England in the heat and humidity at Mumbai – the catastrophic events at Mumbai triggered such a psychological blow to England that in Bangalore – during the clash between the eighth and ninth team in the points table – England sunk into the Sri Lankan quicksand.

No Bazball – but a collapse that England witnessed Pakistan manufacture at Ahmedabad against India a few weeks back.

They were going fine at 45 for no loss and then the Bazball blowout happened!

Angelo Mathews would not have been included but due to the injury of Matheesha Pathirana, he featured and at the age of 36 he showed the intent and hunger in his first over in an ODI for three-and-a-half years – a rinse-and-rise delivery that dismissed Dawid Malan.

And that was it – England panicked.

Joe Root was run out in a schoolboy fashion, in my opinion. Bairstow attempted to whack one outside off over mid-on and holed out. Jos Buttler had a waft outside off and walked back to the hut. Liam Livingstone was trapped lbw courtesy of lazy feet movement and Moeen Ali’s demise was a loose one.

Ben Stokes was fighting but as soon as he was dismissed – England lost 10 wickets for 111 runs – that made things worse for the defending champions as their chances now rely on serious mathematical twists and turns.

The Sri Lankans gained a sufficient amount of confidence after beating the Dutch previously and the injection of Mathews sparked them up which was evident on the field and as the English surrendered meekly – with every passing minute the Lankans were looking spontaneous and confident.

England were badly needed to bounce back from the South African nightmare but after losing within just 59 overs of the 100 – the ability to handle pressure by the whole team, especially by the coach and captain will come under the scanner.

In a 50-over format mega-event – there is little time for the dust to settle, rather, a team needs to rise and shine soon like the Australians.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar